Process and device for paralleling a transport carriage

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and process for positioning a transport carriage that supports a cloth or yarn roller in front of a weaving machine. The apparatus is provided with two non-contact sensors that are attached to spaced apart locations on the transport carriage. The transport carriage is further provided with two selectively actuatable steerable wheels. After the transport carriage is initially positioned in front of the weaving machine distance measurements are made between the non-contact sensors and fixed reference points on the weaving machine. Based on these distance measurements the wheels integral with the transport carriage are selectively actuated in order to place the transport carriage in parallel alignment with the weaving machine.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a process and a device for parallel aligning atransporting carriage for loom or cloth beams. The transporting carriagecan be positioned in front of a weaving machine, and the undercarriageof the transporting carriage has two wheels which are arranged at alongitudinal distance from one another, can be steered, and, ifnecessary, can be driven by a motor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Loom beam transporting carriages of this type are mainly utilized forthe loom beam exchange on weaving machines. The full loom beam must forthis purpose be picked up from the ground or a storage frame, must betransported to the weaving machine, must be positioned in front of theweaving machine, and must be suspended on a loom-beam support on themachine frame. The operator usually aligns the transporting carriage bysight and through repeated transverse and longitudinal movement of theundercarriage until the carriage is parallel with the weaving machine.This operation is complicated and depending on the skill of the operatorrather time-consuming. In the case of incorrect positioning, collisionsoccur repeatedly in the storage area of the weaving machine, in thebearing arms, and in the area of the projecting tube ends of the loombeams, thus causing unnecessary wear or damage.

Loom-beam transporting carriages of this type are mainly utilized forthe cloth-beam exchange on weaving machines. A cloth-beam transportingcarriage has the task to lift a full cloth beam out of a weavingmachine, to cut the cloth strand, to wind the free end of the clothstrand onto an empty cloth beam, and to insert the empty cloth beam withthe cloth strand to be wound thereon into the weaving machine. Theloom-beam transporting carriage is for the loom-beam exchange taskpositioned in the cloth path in front of the respective weaving machine.The positioning in longitudinal direction can be very exact, but theparallel alignment positioning with respect to the weaving machine isdifficult. If the carriage and weaving machine are not parallel, thenthe danger exists that an undesired crease formation occurs duringwinding and subsequent insertion of the new loom beam. In order toprevent this, the loom-beam transporting carriage must be alignedparallel with respect to the weaving machine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The basic purpose of the invention is to provide a process and a deviceto effect a parallel alignment of the transporting carriage and theweaving machine.

This purpose is attained according to the invention by the followingprocess steps:

The transporting carriage is positioned in the loom or cloth pathrelative to the weaving machine in a longitudinal direction and isaligned with at least one of its steerable wheels in a transversetravelling direction with respect to the weaving machine;

The transverse distances between two oppositely lying, machine-fixedreference surfaces are thereafter measured without contact while formingdistance signals from two undercarriage-fixed positions which arearranged at a longitudinal distance from one another, and the distancesignals are converted into a driving and/or steering movement of thewheels for paralleling the transporting carriage.

The two wheels are driven by a motor and are aligned in a transversetravelling direction. The wheels are oppositely driven in accordancewith the distance signals or in accordance with a difference signalformed out of the distance signals until the transporting carriage isparallel aligned. With a sufficient lateral guiding of theundercarriage, it is possible to thereafter move the transportingcarriage without any further measuring operation in transversetravelling direction toward the weaving machine.

As an alternative, it is possible to individually stop or to drive thetwo wheels, which are driven by a motor and are aligned in transversetravelling direction, in the same direction with different speeds inaccordance with the distance signals or a difference signal formed outof the distance signals to parallel the transporting carriage to theweaving machine. During the transverse travel of the transportingcarriage toward the weaving machine, the transverse distances betweenthe undercarriage-fixed positions and the machine-fixed referencesurfaces are thereby measured. The measured distances converted inaccordance with the difference between the measured distances or theirdifferences from the given desired reference distance into adjustingsignals for operating the drive units of the transporting carriage or ofthe weaving machine and/or of an indicating machine. The positioncoordinates of the transporting carriage with respect to the weavingmachine are known during its entire transverse movement because of thedistance measurements. These measures assure that the conditions for anautomatic loom and cloth beam exchange are met.

Energy beams, which are emitted from the undercarriage-fixed positionand are reflected back on the machine-fixed reference surface, inparticular ultrasound or light beams, are advantageously used foreffecting distance measurement without contact.

The device for carrying out the process of the invention has twodistance sensors spaced at a longitudinal distance from one another onthe undercarriage, and can be aligned with reflecting surfaces of theweaving machine. An indicating and/or evaluating circuit for indicatingthe difference between the measured distance values and/or forcontrolling the driving and/or steering units of the wheels is connectedto the distance sensors. The two wheels, which are driven by a motor andare aligned in transverse direction, can advantageously be driven inopposite directions through the evaluating circuit in accordance withdistance signals or the difference between the signals. The distancesignals are read by distance sensors. As an alternative, it is alsopossible to drive the wheels in the same direction in a transversetravelling direction with speeds differing in accordance with thedistance signals or the difference signals.

A further advantageous development of the invention provides anundercarriage-fixed and/or machine-fixed handling mechanism controlledthrough the distance signals of the distance sensors for inserting orremoving of the loom or cloth beam, and for controlling the drivingwheels. The handling mechanism can have for this purpose anundercarriage-fixed lifting mechanism for a loom or cloth beam or amachine-fixed and/or undercarriage-fixed gripping and coupling devicefor gripping and releasing the loom and cloth beam.

The invention can be utilized in the same manner also for paralleling oftransporting carriages in front of knitting machines, double-rib loomsor cutting machines.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter inconnection with some exemplary embodiments schematically illustrated inthe drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of the top of a first exemplary embodimentof a loom-beam transporting carriage in an adjusting position in frontof a weaving machine;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the top of a loom-beam transportingcarriage in front of a weaving machine during the parallel alignmenttask;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the top of a loom-beam transportingcarriage in front of a weaving machine during parallel transversetravel;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a device for effecting a paralleling of atransporting carriage; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the loom-beam transporting carriage ofFIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The loom-beam transporting carriages 10, schematically illustrated inthe drawings, have an elongated undercarriage 16 with two steerable andmotor-driven wheels 12, and a lifting mechanism 18 for a loom beam 20.In addition, the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 5 showtwo supporting rollers 24 which are designed as caster wheels and arepivotally arranged on cross-arms 22, whereas the exemplary embodimentsaccording to FIGS. 2 and 3 have on the undercarriage 16 an additionalwheel 26 which is aligned in longitudinal travelling direction and canbe retracted when travelling in the transverse direction, and twosupporting rollers 28 which can be lowered onto the ground in transversetravelling direction (only shown in FIG. 3). The wheels 12 are pivotedin longitudinal or transverse travelling direction by a control bar 30or a steering wheel. The driving motors 48 of the driving wheels 12 areoperated through operating members (not illustrated) arranged on thecontrol bar 30.

The longitudinal positioning of the transporting carriage 10 in the loompath in front of the weaving machine 32 can be accomplished, forexample, through centering a sensor 35 with a ground marking 34 (FIG. 2)or centering through a reflection light sensor 38 arranged on thetransporting carriage 10 and that reacts to a target reflector 36 on theweaving machine 32 (FIG. 1).

The transporting carriage 10, for paralleling in front of a weavingmachine, is equipped with two distance sensors 40 arranged spaced fromone another and are preferably designed as an ultrasounddistance-measuring device. The scanning beam of the distance sensors iseach reflected back to the sensor 40 by an oppositely lyingmachine-fixed reference surface 42. The output signals of the distancesensors 40 are evaluated in a preferably microprocessor-supportedevaluating circuit 44 for the formation of difference and path signals,and are converted into control signals for the drive controls 46 of thedriving motors 48 associated with the wheels 12 (FIG. 4).

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the parallel alignment with respect to theweaving machine can be accomplished by the wheels 12 being driven inopposite directions, such that the undercarriage 16 rotates withoutlongitudinal displacement about the pivot point 50 into the parallelposition. The wheel 26 rotates in this case also about the pivot point50. After reaching the parallel position, it is possible after liftingthe wheel 26 off from the ground, and after lowering the supportingrollers 24 (not shown in FIG. 2) to drive the wheels 12 in the samedirection for transverse travel toward the weaving machine.

The exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3 shows that the parallelalignment can also occur during the transverse travel when the wheels12, in accordance with the distance signals measured with the distancesensors 40, are driven in the same direction, however, at a differentspeed. The distance signals are evaluated in the evaluating circuit 44,and if necessary, with the support of a microprocessor. The drivingenergy can be controlled by the operator through an operating member(not illustrated) on the control bar 30, whereby the distance sensors 40and the evaluating circuit 44 control the driving motors 48 tocontinuously position the transport carriage in parallel alignment. Aposition coordinate is determined during the transverse movement by thedistance sensors, based on which coordinate path-dependent operationswithin the transporting carriage 10 or on the weaving machine 32 canalso be carried out. In particular, this makes it possible to makelifting and lowering of the loom beam distance-dependent. Furthermore, adistance-dependent stopping of the transverse travelling movement or anautomatic switching to slow travel is possible. Finally, it is alsopossible to carry out other movements, such as opening storage areas,uncoupling drives, and up to the fully automatic manipulation during theloom-beam insertion and removal tasks.

Instead of the afore-described ultrasound sensors, it is also possibleto utilize infrared sensors or laser sensors for effecting thecontactless distance measurement.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:
 1. A process for aligning atransport carriage for a cloth/yarn roller in front of a weavingmachine, said process including the steps of:providing a transportcarriage having two longitudinally spaced wheels that are steerable:positioning at least one of said steerable wheels of said transportcarriage so that said at least one steerable wheel is aligned in atransverse direction to the weaving machine; measuring the distancebetween said transport carriage and the weaving machine with twonon-contact sensors that are attached to said transport carriage atlongitudinally spaced apart locations, each said non-contact sensormeasuring the distance between said non-contact sensor and a separatereference surface on the weaving machine; and selectively actuating saidsteerable wheels of said transport carriage based on said distancemeasurements made by said non-contact sensors so as to position saidtransport carriage in parallel alignment with the weaving machine. 2.The process for aligning a transport carriage according to claim 1,further comprising the steps of:driving said steerable wheels of saidtransport carriage with a motor; and driving said steerable wheels inopposite directions based on said distance measurements in order toparallel align said transport carriage with the weaving machine.
 3. Theprocess for aligning a transport carriage according to claim 1, furthercomprising the steps of: driving said steerable wheels of said transportcarriage with a motor; and driving said steerable wheels in the samedirection at different speeds in order to parallel align said transportcarriage with the weaving machine.
 4. The process for aligning atransport carriage according to claim 3, further comprising driving saidsteerable wheels at different speeds by selectively stopping saidsteerable wheels independently of each other.
 5. The process of aligninga transport carriage according to claim 1, further comprising the stepsof: determining the difference in the distances between the weavingmachine and each of said non-contact sensors on said transport carriage;and selectively actuating said steerable wheels based on said differencein the distances between the weaving machine and said non-contactsensors on said transport carriage.
 6. The process of aligning atransport carriage according to claim 1, further comprising the stepsof: for each said non-contact sensor on said transport carriage,determining a difference between the distance between the weavingmachine and said non-contact sensor and a reference distance; andselectively actuating said steerable wheels based on said differencesbetween the measured weaving machine non-contact sensor distances andthe reference distance.
 7. The process of aligning a transport carriageaccording to claim 1, further comprising the step of making saiddistance measurements by measuring the time it takes for energy emittedby said non-contract sensors to be reflected from the referencessurfaces on the weaving machine and, wherein said energy emitted by saidnon-contact sensors consists of either sonic energy or light energy. 8.The process of aligning a transport carriage according to claim 1,wherein said positioning of said transport carriage so that a first oneof said steerable wheels of said transport carriage is aligned with apoint on the weaving machine further comprises the step of opticallyaligning said transport carriage with the weaving machine so as toposition said transport carriage so that one of said steerable wheels ofsaid transport carriage is aligned with a point on the weaving machine.9. The process of aligning a transport carriage according to claim 1,wherein said positioning of said transport carriage so that a first oneof said steerable wheels of the transport carriage is aligned with apoint on the weaving machine further comprises the step of aligning saidtransport carriage with a ground mark on a floor surface on which theweaving machine and said transport carriage are located so as toposition said transport carriage so that one of said steerable wheels ofsaid transport carriage is aligned with a point on the weaving machine.10. A transport carriage for loading and unloading a cloth/yarn rolleronto and from a weaving machine, said transport carriage including:acarriage body having two longitudinally spaced ends; a beam attached tosaid carriage body for holding the cloth/yarn roller; two steerablewheels, said steerable wheels being located at longitudinally spacedlocations on said carriage body; drive mechanism means connected to eachsaid steerable wheel for actuating said steerable wheels; twonon-contact distance sensor means attached to said carriage body atlongitudinally spaced locations for each measuring the distance to aseparate reference surface on the weaving machine and for producingdistance measurement signals based on said distance measurements; andcontrol circuit means connected to said non-contact distance sensormeans so as to receive said distance measurement signals and connectedto said drive mechanism means for controlling said drive mechanismmeans, wherein said control circuit means controls said drive mechanismmeans so as to selectively actuate said steerable wheels to cause saidcarriage body to become parallel aligned with the weaving machine basedon said received distance measurement signals.
 11. The transportcarriage of claim 10, wherein said drive mechanism means actuates saidsteerable wheels in opposite directions so as to parallely align saidcarriage body with the weaving machine.
 12. The transport carriage ofclaim 10, wherein said drive mechanism means actuates said steerablewheels in the same direction and at different speeds so as to parallelyalign said carriage body with the weaving machine.
 13. The transportcarriage of claim 12, wherein said control circuit means controls saiddrive mechanism means to cause said drive mechanism means to selectivelyactuate said steerable wheels independently of each other.
 14. Thetransport carriage of claim 10, wherein said non-contact distance sensormeans include means for emitting energy to said weaving machine andmeans for monitoring the time it takes the emitted energy to bereflected back from the reference surfaces on the weaving machine andwherein said means for emitting energy emit either sonic energy or lightenergy.
 15. The transport carriage of claim 10, further including apositioning means attached to said carriage body for aligning one ofsaid steerable wheels relative to a reference point on the weavingmachine.
 16. The transport carriage of claim 15, wherein saidpositioning means includes an optical position detector means fordetermining when said carriage body is aligned with a reference elementon the weaving machine.
 17. The transport carriage of claim 15, whereinsaid positioning means includes a sensor means for monitoring theposition of said carriage body relative to a ground marking located on afloor surface over which said carriage body travels.